Page 28

I stepped around Silver and Clay and simply went into the house. Sure, it wasn’t mine, and I’d never been to Clay’s place before, but this was where the family get-together was today, and I wasn’t going to stand around outside and make anyone wait longer.

It wasn’t difficult to find them: it sounded as if they were all talking at the same time. Not only that, but Clay’s house was laid out much like Silver’s. There were some differences, but for the most part, the house was the same.

“Hi, Charlie,” Mica said. He was the first to notice me. That was all it took, though, because suddenly, everyone else who was with him was no longer talking, and they were all staring at me. I smiled nervously and gave a single wave while Mica took the container from me.

“Hi.”

Silver was somehow immediately behind me, his welcoming arm wrapped around the front of my chest.

“You already know my brothers, but these are our parents, Gary and Joyce.”

I smiled at them. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Who baked the cookies?” Mica asked.

“Charlie did,” Silver told him. “He also made the macaroni salad.”

Joyce rolled her eyes. “You’ll get used to them. These five can eat like nobody I’ve ever seen.” She stepped forward and held out her hands. I took them and smiled at my new mother-in-law. “Welcome to the family, Charlie.”

“Thank you,” I told her. “It’s…” I glanced around. “A lot larger than what I’m used to, but I love it.” That was absolutely the truth. I loved that Silver had such a large family and that they were so welcoming.

“Silver, you should invite him in.”

“It’s not my house. Clay needs to invite him in.”

I smiled at everyone because we were already in, were we not? I looked up at Silver, my head simply directed up since he was standing behind me. “Aren’t we already in?”

Silver managed to reach up and touch me on the nose with his fingers. “Yes we are. I do believe that Ma was referring to out onto the back deck, where we usually have the family meals though.”

“Oh.” I knew that. Silver had told me about that already. That was why he had such a nice back deck setup. Not only him though. Everyone in his family had a lot of similar landscaping done in order to accommodate their larger family when they were all together.

“Charlie,” Clay said, interrupting. “Please come in. And please feel welcome. We’re pretty laid-back when it comes to these get-togethers, so if you feel like anyone is ignoring you, please let one of us know.”

“I’ll watch out for him,” Silver said. He gave my shoulders a squeeze. “As if I’d ever ignore my own mate,” he added.

I never thought Silver would, nor did I really think that anyone else in the family would. I knew they were all being extra since it was my first time here at the family get-together.

“Silver, please make them stop. They all need to relax because they’re making me even more nervous. What happened? Where is this coming from?” I said to him through our mate bond.

“All right, everyone. Let’s not make Charlie even more nervous about meeting Ma and Dad for the first time,” Silver told his family. I sighed, but I did feel bad. Maybe we should have done this at a restaurant as well.

“Charlie, come sit down and talk,” Joyce said. “I’ve been told you’re a zookeeper. Do you like your job?”

I smiled at Joyce and took her outstretched hand. She and I walked to the door and out onto the back deck. Now that I was out here, I could see it was a lot like Silver’s, but still different. There was a large table and several heaters, with two of them being on.

“I do like it, yes. I never thought I’d be a zookeeper though. I went to college to be a teacher. And maybe I’ll go back to it someday, but for now, I really do love my job. It’s fun, and there are always new faces to meet.”

“That sounds lovely. How did you happen to fall into that? It seems like such a difference from teaching.”

I chuckled. “It is, yes. I was venting to a friend one day after a particularly rough day at the high school. He told me that the zoo was hiring if I ever wanted to change jobs. I thought about it for a few days, applied because you just never know, and was offered a position that I could fill once the school year was over.” I shrugged. “I’ve been there ever since.”

“And how long has that been?”

“Ma…” Silver said, a warning in his voice. A drink suddenly appeared in front of me, and I smiled up at my mate.

“What? I was just making conversation.”

“No, you were fishing. What is it that you really want to know?”

Joyce sighed. “I was curious about his age and how soon the two of you were going to have children.”

Unfortunately, I’d been drinking the delicious iced tea, and it absolutely went down the wrong pipe at that comment from Joyce.

“Joyce, you were warned,” Gary said.

“What?” she said as I continued to try and expel the tea from my windpipe.

Silver was there, gently rubbing my back. Thankfully, he took the tea from me and handed it off to someone else. A paper towel was handed to me, and I gave a few really productive coughs before I could finally breathe without feeling the tea in the back of my throat.

“Here’s some water.”

I looked up and found Mica. He looked incredibly concerned.

“Thank you,” I told him. My voice was a bit hoarse, but after a few drinks, several throat clears, and finally blowing my nose, I felt better.

“I’m fine,” I told everyone. They were all staring at me, and that absolutely wasn’t what I wanted.

I looked directly at Joyce and smiled. “I’m twenty-nine, and we haven’t really decided about children yet beyond not too soon. ”

What little smile Joyce still had faded. “What’s not too soon? A few months?”

“Ma,” several said. I looked over at Silver, who had been one of the most vocal.

“Ma, it is completely up to us when we have children. We hope to one day have them, but for now, we want to focus on us and getting to know each other better. We want to travel and do ‘couple’ things. Stop being pushy.”

“Joyce, my love. I think we need to go for a little walk around the neighborhood,” Gary said.

He wasn’t giving Joyce any choice in the matter, it seemed, because he reached down and pulled her to her feet.

“We’ll be back in just a bit. Don’t hold supper for us though,” Gary said as he and Joyce walked away.

I looked from them to my mate, worried. “That’s not necessary,” I whispered.

“Yes, it is,” Silver told me.

“She’s overstepping, Charlie,” Clay told me as he took the seat that Joyce had just been sitting in.

“She’s allowed to ask questions. It’s expected when meeting someone new, isn’t it?”

“Questions are fine, cutie. But Ma was going beyond what is acceptable. She was invading our privacy, and she wasn’t going to stop with just the one question.”

“She promised all of us she wouldn’t do that, Charlie,” Clay said. “We get it, she’s excited for the two of you, but she needs to not butt in where she shouldn’t.”

I shook my head. That wasn’t what she was doing. She was asking questions.

“Somewhat innocent questions now, but we all have experience growing up. She can be too much. Next thing you know, she’ll ask you and Silver what positions you used to get pregnant so she can tell the rest of us we have to have sex in only that position.”

My mouth dropped open. Clay redirected his gaze to Silver. “You didn’t tell him about her?”

“I did. I’m not sure he fully believed me.”

I looked up at Silver. “She’s an older version of Sam.” How? Why did I somehow get stuck with an older version of my sister for a mother-in-law? Would she be on par with Sam or worse? I was actually terrified to know.